MONTESSORI WORK PERIOD AT HOME

I am so excited to be talking to you about the Montessori work period and how you can bring it into your home.

During this session of Montessori Mondays with Holly, we talked about bringing a work period into your home. Watch the show above and click here to join the Facebook group.

 

 

If you are struggling with putting a Montessori work period into your routine, or even wondering what a work period is we are going to touch on 3 main points to help you get past the overwhelm and confusion!

Whether you are confused about the work period or you don’t know the difference between home and classroom, or you want to know when and how long your child should have access to those materials on the shelves, this is a huge thing we talk about in our 4 Days To A Montessori Home Challenge.

 

Having A Set Time For A Work Period

Everyone’s families and personalities and cultures are different. Everyone has their own routine. This can mean what your family’s natural flow is. At one stage of life when you have a young child your flow isn’t “busy mornings” getting ready for school. Or Maybe it is busy and you need to get ready for daycare.

For the purpose of this, we are going to assume that you want to have a set work period. If we are talking about Monday through Friday you don’t have to do a work period every day. You could do it every other day or once a week, and decide when to add more. You wouldn’t start with a three-hour work period. Maybe start with 30 minutes. When you child can concentrate best. It all depending on what works for your family’s natural flow.

The main idea is to have a set schedule for your work period. For example, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for 30 minutes at 9:00 am. Stick to that schedule. Consistency at this age is key! Having a reliable routine will help your child understand what happens next. Or what is asked of them next. When they wake up they are asked to start their morning routine. Such as eat breakfast, get dressed, brush teeth, and they respect that. This will work the same for the work period. Your child will understand this is the time to concentrate.

In the 4 days to a Montessori home challenge, we really focus on following the child’s lead. Choosing those materials that are going to bring that concentration and build that concentration skill. This is very important to follow the child’s lead before you start the work periods. 

 

Having Set Undivided Attention Time

This is very important if you have more than one child at home. Children crave undivided attention and it’s very important to make sure that you are giving that time to them separate from the work period. This way they are not trying to pile all of their needs into one 30-60 minute session every day.

Instead, you can have 10 minutes of undivided attention time. You can call it “Mommy and Me Time” or whatever works for you. If you have those few minutes set aside outside of the work period they aren’t going to need as much attention from you inside of that work period. You might find that they actually want to be independent of you in that space. They want to concentrate on that work when they are not seeking your attention during that time.

This is a very important habit to get into for our children. When their attention bucket is full they can move on throughout their day fulfilling all of these other expectations of them. In the challenge, we talk about making that space in your routines! 

 

Work Period Work Vs Free Play Work

When we do the challenge we ask you to set up shelves and a play area in the main living space. We do this for a few reasons.

• You want your child to feel like they belong in their home.
• Providing independence for your child.
• This allows you as a parent to do other things.

Independence is so important. Your child can walk up to the shelf and independently play. They don’t need to ask for help and have that option of free-range play. Free-range time is separate from a work period. During a work period if you do 30 minutes this is a time when you would be doing any sort of presentation for materials or you might be helping or observing and just seeing where their interests lie. You could be making any prepared activities like practical life or make a snack during that time.

Obviously, you don’t want to do everything for them but you can be there. setting things up and presenting if needed. Outside of this time is free-range play. In the challenge, we talk about prepared environments. Learning the difference between what’s inside a work period and what’s outside the work period.

4 Days To A Montessori Home Challenge

So if you are ready to learn more about a Montessori and provide your child with a beautiful Montessori prepared environment at home I would love to invite you to join us for our 4 Days To A Montessori Home Challenge.

About this Challenge:

• This Challenge is specifically designed to transform your main living space into a beautifully prepared Montessori environment.
• This challenge is NOT meant to be complicated or make your life difficult.
• You do NOT need all the expensive materials to make this happen!
• Our [free] pop-up Facebook group is all about supporting one another, no mom shaming here!

What you need to know:

• The Challenge starts on April 26th!
• It’s ABSOLUTELY FREE to join!
• One lucky winner will win a scholarship to the Montessori Learning Center!

 

Do you practice a work period at home currently? Have you tried before? Let us know in the comments!